Ch. 5
How magnanimity is consistent with care.
THINGS themselves (materials) are indifferent;242 but the
use of them is not indifferent. How then shall a man
preserve firmness and tranquillity, and at the same time
[p. 109]
be careful and neither rash nor negligent? If he imitates
those who play at dice. The counters are indifferent; the
dice are indifferent. How do I know what the cast will
be? But to use carefully and dexterously the cast of the
dice, this is my business.243 Thus then in life also the chief
business is this: distinguish and separate things, and say,
Externals are not in my power: will is in my power.
Where shall I seek the good and the bad? Within, in the
things which are my own. But in what does not belong
to you call nothing either good or bad, or profit or damage
or any thing of the kind.
What then? Should we use such things carelessly?
In no way: for this on the other hand is bad for the
faculty of the will, and consequently against nature; but
we should act carefully because the use is not indifferent,
and we should also act with firmness and freedom from
perturbations because the material is indifferent. For
where the material is not indifferent, there no man can
hinder me nor compel me. Where I can be hindered and
compelled, the obtaining of those things is not in my power,
nor is it good or bad; but the use is either bad or good,
and the use is in my power. But it is difficult to mingle
and to bring together these two things, the carefulness of
him who is affected by the matter (or things about him)
and the firmness of him who has no regard for it; but it
is not impossible: and if it is, happiness is impossible.
But we should act as we do in the case of a voyage. What
can I do? I can choose the master of the ship, the sailors,
the day, the opportunity. Then comes a storm. What
more have I to care for? for my part is done. The business belongs to another, the master.But the ship is sinkingwhat then have I to do? I do the only thing that
I can, not to be drowned fill of fear, nor screaming nor
blaming God, but knowing that what has been produced
must also perish: for I am not an immortal being, but a
man, a part of the whole, as an hour is a part of the day;
[p. 110]
I must be present like the hour, and past like the hour.
What difference then does it make to me, how I pass
away, whether by being suffocated or by a fever, for I
must pass through some such means?
This is just what you will see those doing who play at
ball skilfully. No one cares about the ball244 as being
good or bad, but about throwing and catching it. In this
therefore is the skill, in this the art, the quickness, the
judgment, so that even if I spread out my lap I may not
be able to catch it, and another, if I throw, may catch the
ball. But if with perturbation and fear we receive or
throw the ball, what kind of play is it then, and wherein
shall a man be steady, and how shall a man see the order
in the game? But one will say, Throw; or Do not throw;
and another will say, You have thrown once. This is
quarrelling, not play.
Socrates then knew how to play at ball. How? By
using pleasantry in the court where he was tried. Tell
me, he says, Anytus, how do you say that I do not believe
in God. The Daemons (δαίμονες), who are they, think
you? Are they not sons of Gods, or compounded of gods
and men? When Anytus admitted this, Socrates said,
Who then, think you, can believe that there are mules
(half asses), but not asses; and this he said as if he were
playing at ball.245 And what was the ball in that case?
Life, chains, banishment, a draught of poison, separation
from wife and leaving children orphans. These were the
things with which he was playing; but still he did play
and threw the ball skilfully. So we should do: we must
employ all the care of the players, but show the same
indifference about the ball. For we ought by all means
[p. 111]
to apply our art to some external material, not as valuing
the material, but, whatever it may be, showing our art in
it. Thus too the weaver does not make wool, but exercises
his art upon such as he receives. Another gives you food
and property and is able to take them away and your poor
body also. When then you have received the material,
work on it. If then you come out (of the trial) without
having suffered any thing, all who meet you will congratulate you on your escape; but he who knows how to look
at such things, if he shall see that you have behaved
properly in the matter, will commend you and be pleased
with you; and if he shall find that you owe your escape
to any want of proper behaviour, he will do the contrary.
For where rejoicing is reasonable, there also is congratulation reasonable.
How then is it said that some external things are
according to nature and others contrary to nature? It is
said as it might be said if we were separated from union
(or society). for to the foot I shall say that it is according to nature for it to be clean; but if you take it as a
foot and as a thing not detached (independent), it will
befit it both to step into the mud and tread on thorns, and
sometimes to be cut off for the good of the whole body;
otherwise it is no longer a foot. We should think in some
such way about ourselves alsc. What are you? A man.
If you consider yourself as detached from other men, it is
according to nature to live to old age, to be rich, to be
healthy. But if you consider yourself as a man and a
part of a certain whole, it is for the sake of that whole
that at one time you should be sick, at another time take
a voyage and run into danger, and at another time be in
want, and in some cases die prematurely. Why then are
you troubled? Do you not know, that as a foot is no
longer a foot if it is detached from the body, so you are
no longer a man if you are separated from other men.
For what is a man?246 A part of a state, of that first which
consists of Gods and of men; then of that which is called
247
[p. 112]
next to it, which is a small image of the universal state.
What then must I be brought to trial; must another have
a fever, another sail on the sea, another die, and another
be condemned? Yes, for it is impossible in such a body,
in such a universe of things, among so many living together, that such things should not happen, some to one
and others to others. It is your duty then since you are
come here, to say what you ought, to arrange these things
as it is fit.248 Then some one says, I shall charge you
with doing me wrong. Much good may it do you: I
have done my part; but whether you also have done yours,
you must look to that; for there is some danger of this
too, that it may escape your notice.